Jimmie Durham is a sculptor, essayist and poet. He was born in the USA in 1940. He began working as a sculptor in 1963.
In 1969 Durham moved to Europe and studied at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Geneva. Along with three other sculptors he formed a group, Draga, which researched ways to allow the plastic arts more access to public life. At the same time, along with a Mapuche Indian from Chile and a Quechua Indian from Bolivia, he formed an organization, Incomindios, which attempted to coordinate and encourage support for the struggle of Indians of the Americas. In 1973, Durham returned to the US to become a full-time organizer in the American Indian Movement (AIM). During this time he served as director of the International Indian Treaty Council and representative to the United Nations. In the early 1980s Durham returned his attention to art in New York City.
In 1987 Durham moved to Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he was based until moving to Europe in 1994. During his time in Mexico, Durham began to exhibit internationally, including at the Whitney Biennial, Documenta IX, ICA London, Exit Art, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp and the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. He also published a number of essays in books and periodicals, including Art Forum, Art Journal and Third Text. In 1995, A Certain Lack of Coherence, a collection of his essays, was published by Kala Press.
His exhibitions in Europe have included venues such as the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (solo), Musée d'Art Contemporain in Marseilles (solo), Museum Voor Actuele Kunst in den Hague (solo), Hamburg Kunstverein (solo), FRAC in Reims (solo), SMAK Museum in Ghent, Wittgenstein Haus in Vienna (solo), Kunstverein Munich (solo), and the Venice Biennale (1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005), Whitney Biennale (1993 and 2006) among many others. In 1995 Phaidon published Jimmie Durham, a comprehensive survey of his art. In 2009, on the occasion of Durham’s retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Pierres rejetées, a catalogue of Durham’s work in Europe was published.
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